Yep, got my first salamander this year in the usual place down cellar in the about 1 inch gap between the block vertical wall and concrete horizontal slab near where the cellar steps come down from outside.
Don Mills who lives in nearby Oswego NY near Lake Ontario helped identify those I caught last fall.
See here:
https://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=43116
This one would be a redbacked salamander. And typical of some salamanders, they lose their tail in hopes the attacker grabs the tail instead of it.
I gave it a better home in a soggy old brush pile in our woods. It should be happier there than down cellar.
Can you see it smile?
Bill